1. Background


Major Cities in Asia (Nighttime Light Intensity in 2013)

Compare with Europe

2. Theoretical Background


The economic forces leading to urban formation/growth and their economic benefits:

  • Centripetal forces (pulling towards the center)

    • Natural advantages

      • Harbors, rivers

      • Central locations

    • Market-size

      • Access to markets (backward linkages)

      • Access to products (forward linkages)

      • Thick labor markets

  • Centrifugal forces (pushing away from the center)

    • Market-media forces

      • Commuting costs, urban land rent

      • Pull of dispersed resources

    • Non-market forces

      • Congestion

      • Pollution

  • Increasing Returns

    • higher wage, income, growth

source: Krugman (1994)


3. Measuring cities


  • Administrative boundaries are not helpful (often harmful)

    • City cannot be defined administratively

  • Population density is the most common measure but that is not sufficient

    • Densely populated areas without infrastructure are slumps. For example Dharavi (BBC)

    Source: commons.wikimedia.org

    • Places of dense infrastructure without people are ghost-towns

    • Cities should me examined considering (i) population density, (ii) infrastructure density and (iii) mobility Keola (2018)


4. Challenges of Asia Cities

  • Lack of infrastructure

    • limited infrastructure development capacity

    • limited local industrial development

  • Spatial mismatch of people and infrastructure

  • Lack of intra- and inter-city mobility

  • Economic activities impacts on environment

    • Cities are still the major polluters in many Asia cities. Nitrogen Dioxide emission in East Asia (2020 VS 2019) Source: Author based on Google Earth Engine.